The image of us being sheep and God being our good shepherd is sprinkled lavishly across the Scripture both new and old.  Whole chapters are devoted to the idea (Psalm 23, John 10).  Men are like sheep to be slaughtered (Psalm 44:11), lost sheep (Luke 15:1-7) and scattered sheep (Matthew 9:36).  Sheep bully other sheep (Ezekiel 34:17-22).  The Good Shepherd lays down His life for His sheep (John 10:11).

There are 7 billion people on the earth.  Of those a tiny fraction are ever in the news personally.  Often groups of people are mentioned and people are tarred with the same brush, but that never tells the story of a single soul.  There are wars and rumours of wars and too many people live in absolute poverty and in ignorance.

But lift your eyes from the news and see what God has done.  There are 7 billion people in the world and most of them are at peace.  For many the Lord is their shepherd and where that is the case they lack nothing, He supplies good food, He leads them in peaceful places and restores their souls.  These ones – and I like to count me and my family among them – walk in righteousness so as not to bring shame to the character of Christ.  Yes we go through bad times but He is always there with us.  He uses the long, thin rod of discipline to keep us on the right path at such times and we know that His staff is strong enough to beat away all wolves.  Even in the midst of the devil and his angels, thrown down to the earth and as angry as hell, we still enjoy His presence and our lives are full and overflowing.  He takes what we are and have and anoints us to bless us and cause our works to multiply.  As we go on with Him, we leave a legacy of goodness and mercy behind us.  It is truly wonderful to know that this living with Him continues forever. (Psalm 23).

The grace of God has abundantly produced good in this world despite the depravity of man.  Let us think about those things instead of always watching and believing the news.